Cotton-picker.



B. WORTHINGTON.

COTTON PICKER.

APPLICATION FILED 111111.22. 1911.

1,020,867. l Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

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'U TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BRUCE WORTHINGTON, OF WINCI-IESTER, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WORTHINGTONCOTTON HARVESTER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

COTTON-PICKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1912.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, BRUCE lVoRTI-IINGTON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Winchester, in the county of Frederick and State ofVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCotton-Pickers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in manually directed cottonpickers.

The object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which will rapidlyand etl'ectually remove the cotton from the cotton bolls andautomatically deliver the same, through a suitable chute, to areceptacle carried by the operator.

The invention consists in the main of providing a suitable carrierdriven by any suitable power, and the provision of picker pins which,when extended into the cotton to be picked, will be maintained rigidlyin picking position, but which will, as they are moved toward theoperator at a predetermined point, have their rigidity destroyed, sothat they will be readily and successively withdrawn from the cotton andcaused to disappear below and between the carrier or belts, leaving thecotton upon the carrier to be carried toward the operator by the beltsand dropped into a receptacle.

In a minor degree, the invention consists in the novel construction ofthe carrier and in the frame or body of the picker by which the wholedevice may be conveniently and effectually manipulated, inthe pickingoperation.

As shown in the drawings, I prefer to make the body of the picker in theform of a pistol, and I provide a comfortable hand grip with a suitabletrigger in convenient position in advance of the grip to be manip ulatedby the finger of the operator, to diminish or increase the speed of thecarrier or throw the same out of gear entirely, as the eXigencies of thecase may require.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view partially insection; Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of the picker end ofthe device, showing the means for supporting the picker pins in rigidposition, and the manner in which the support for the pins is taken awayto render the pins yielding or inactive, and Fig. 3 is a side elevationof the picker with the forward part of the body broken away, showing thearrangement of the carrier with relation to the body.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 represents two rigid side barsbetween the rear ends of which is mounted a driving shaft 2 carrying adrum or pulley 3, over which the individual belts 4 of a carrier 5 pass.The driving shaft is provided at its outer end with a miter gear wheel(S which meshes with a similaiwheel 7 driven by a flexible shaft S,which is mounted in the bearing 9 in a housing 10, suitably secured toone of the side bars 1.

The forward ends of the side bars are rigidly connected by a cross-bar11 having keyed thereto a stationary cam 12. Revoluble upon this cam isa drum 13 recessed at intervals as indicated at 14 for the reception ofthe picker pins 15, which are pivoted at 1G in said recesses. Eachpicker pin is provided with a foot 17 which, when the drum is revolved,will obviously successively ride on the circular portion 18 of the cam12, until they reach the point a of the cam, when they will be free torock upon their pivots. As soon, however, as the pins reach the pointI), Fig. 2, it will be noted that the feet will engage the cam at thispoint, and will be instantly straightened up and as they ride on to thecurved portion 18, will be held in rigid or picking position. Thisconstruction is clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. I prefer toemploy two sets of picker pins and to make the carrier of threeindividual belts, thus producing two kerfs 19, through which the pickerpins pass.

The numeral 20 designates a chute which is generally circularl in crosssection, flared at its forward end, as indicated at 21 and provided withdepending side flanges 22 by which it is attached to the side bars l,preferably by means of screws 23. This chute extends rearwardly beyondthe main body of the device and its end is dipped downwardly so as todeliver the picked cotton into any suitable receptacle carried by theoperator. Securely attached to the side bars is a pistol-like grip 24,in advance of which is a trigger which has connection with suitableclutch mechanism, not here shown, by which the operator may control thespeed of the carrier and start and stop the same as may be required.

1n operation, the power is turned on, and t-hrough the gear connections,will rapidly revolve the drum 3, which in turn will run the belts of thecarrier. The frictional engagement between the belts and the drum 13will rapidly revolve said drum and cause the picker pins to revolvearound the cam 12. As long as the picker pins are running against thecurved portion 18 of t-he cam, they will be maintained in uprightsubst-antially rigid position, or the position in which they are pickingthe cotton. However, as soon as the pins pass to the cut away portion ofthe cam, they will be free to rock on their pivots and will no longerhave any action upon the picked cotton, but will be simply withdrawnfrom the cotton and caused to disappear below the belts. Thus the uppersurface of the carrier will quickly strip the cotton from the pins,deposit it upon the top of the carrier or belts, where the succeedingpicked cotton will have a tendency to force it through the chute, aidedby the carrying tendency of the belt, toward the operator, and throughthe open rear end of the chute into a suitable receptacle carried by theoperator.

Experiment has demonstrated that the device may be made extremely light,and the speed of the carrier may be such that the picking of the cottonis extremely rapid and effectual, the pins at all times completelystripping the boll of every vestige of cotton and the construction issuch that no clogging will occur.

1t will be noted that the construction and arrangement of the pickerpins and belts make possible a highly efficient stripping operation, byreason of the disappearance of the pins between the kerfs, at the timethat the rigidity of the pins is destroyed, and at the time that thebelts are running in a direction different from the direction of themovement of the disappearing pins7 thus depositing the cotton upon thecarrier, without any tendency whatever to draw any of the fiber throughthe kerfs.

1 have shown two sets of picker pins and three belts constituting thecarrier, but obviously, 1 may employ only two belts for the carrier andone set of picker pins on the drum, the teeth in such construction,pass- 1ng between the single kerf between the two elts.

Having thus described my invention, what 1 claim is: v

1. A cotton-picker having in combination, an unyielding, rigidly fixedcam having a substantially cylindrical surface, a portion of saidsurface being cut away, a rotatable drum journaled on the cam,picker-pins carried by the drum and arranged to be engaged by thecylindrical surface of the cam, and means for rotating the drum so as tocause said cylindrical surface to force the picker-pins intorigidly-extended positions.

2. A cotton-picker having in combination, v

an unyielding, rigidly fixed cam having a substantially cylindricalsurface, a portion of said surface being cut away, a rotatable drumjournaled on the cam and provided with a plurality of rows of recessesor slots, picker-pins pivoted within said recesses and arranged to swingfreely and collapse within the cut away portion of the cam when the drumis rotated, and means for rotating said drum.

3. A cotton-picker having in combination, an unyielding, rigidly fixedcam having a substantially cylindrical surface, a portion of saidsurface being cut away, a rotatable drum journaled on the cam,collapsible picker-pins carried by the drum and arranged to be engagedby the cylindrical surface of the cam, to force them into rigidlyextended positions, and to swing freely within the cut away portion ofthe cam, and means for rotating the drum to cause the picker-pins to bealternately extended and collapsed.

t. 1n a cotton picking tool, the combination of a suitable frame, acarrier formed of a plurality of belts arranged side by side in closeproximity to each other, a revoluble body suitably supported at thefront end of the frame and having rockably secured thereto a pluralityof picker pins adapted to be extended into the cotton to be picked, asolid surface cam within said revoluble body, adapted to be engaged bythe pickerpins to hold them stationarily extended while in pickingposition, said cam having a cut away portion so as to permit the pins tobe rocked after they have passed the picking position, said picker pinsbeing so arranged on the revoluble body that they will pass through thespaces between the carrier belts, whereby, after' the cotton has beenpicked, it will be deposited upon the upper surface of the carrier, andmeans for driving the carrier and picker pins.

5. 1n a cotton picking tool, the combination of a suitable frame, adriving drum mounted in the rear of the frame, a stationary,`solid-surface cam suitably supported in the front of the frame, andhaving its rear portion cut away, a revoluble drum surrounding said cam,a plurality of spaced belts adapted to be driven by the driving drum,means for driving the rear drum and, through the belts, the forwarddrum, picker pins carried by the front drum, and when said drum isrevolved, engaging the surface of the cam, whereby the picker pins willbe maintained rigidly in picking position, but will be permitted tocollapse when they pass saV In testimony whereof I afix my signature 1npresence of two Wltnesses.

BRUCE WORTHINGTON.

Vtnesses TITIAN W. JOHNSON, FRANK G. BRERETON.

from picking position to the out away p0rtion of the cam, and a suitablechute mounted upon the upper part of the body above the belts, andhaving open 'front and rear ends 5 and adapted to guide the pickedcotton in its movement from the front to the rear of the tool.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

